Posted on 02/21/2010 9:52:43 AM PST by greyfoxx39
Saturday Night Beck [Bill Bennett]
Theres a lot to say about CPAC. This morning the major papers are highlighting Glenn Becks speech. I like Glenn a lot and I think he has something to teach us. But not what he offered last night.
Analogizing his own struggles with alcohol to the problems of our polity and in our politics, he said, Hello, my name is the Republican party, and I have a problem! Im addicted to spending and big government. It is still morning in America. It just happens to be kind of a head-pounding, hung-over, vomiting-for-four-hours kind of morning in America. And its shaping up to be kind of a nasty day. But it is still morning in America. And, again, I believe in redemption, but the first step to getting redemption is youve got to admit that youve got a problem. I have not heard people in the Republican party yet admit that they have a problem.
Glenn is among the best talkers in the business of broadcast. I am not sure hes a very good listener.
First, there is a good and strong tradition in alcohol and drug treatment that personal failings should not be extrapolated into the public sphere; that too often when this is done, conclusions are reached based on the wrong motives and, often, the wrong analysis. Glenn has made that mistake here and taken to our politics a cosmologizing of his own deficiencies. This is not a baseless criticism; they are his own deficiencies that he keeps publicly redounding to and analogizing to. It is wrong and he is wrong.
Second, for him to continue to say that he does not hear the Republican
Third, to admit it is still morning in America but a vomiting for four hours kind of morning is to diminish, discourage, and disparage all the work of the conservative, Republican, and independent resistance of the past year. The Tea Partiers know better than this. I dont think they would describe their rallies and resistance as a bilious purging but, rather, as a very positive democratic reaction aimed at correcting the wrongs of the current political leadership. The mainstream media may describe their reactions as an unhealthy expurgation. I do not.
A year ago, we were told the Republican party and the conservative movement were moribund. Today they are ascendant, and it is the left and the Democratic party that are on defense even while they are in control. Thats quite an amazing achievement. But anyone who knows the history of this country and its political movements should not be surprised. America has a long tradition of antibodies that kick in. From Carter we got Reagan. And from Ted Kennedy and Barack Obama we took back a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, with midterm elections on the horizon that Republicans and conservatives are actually excited about, not afraid of.
To say the GOP and the Democrats are no different, to say the GOP needs to hit a recovery-program-type bottom and hang its head in remorse, is to delay our own countrys recovery from the problems the Democratic left is inflicting. The stakes are too important to go through that kind of exercise, which will ultimately go nowhere anyway because its already happened.
The first task of a serious political analyst is to see things as they are. There is a difference between morning and night. There is a difference between drunk and sober. And there is a difference between the Republican and Democratic parties. To ignore these differences, or propagate the myth that they dont exist, is not only discouraging, it is dangerous.
I thought the analogy of the after Obama hangover was fairly apt.
Glenn is 100% CORRECT! If the pubbies don’t get a handle on themselves then they WILL be a party destined for the dustbin of history.
Even John McCain has said again and again that the Republican party lost its way. I think McCain meant it by Republicans not jumping across the aisle to support Democrats
Talk is cheap, Bill.
I Like Beck but he can be a bit of a drama queen.
Beck is doing the job the Republican Congress critter RINOS won’t do.
Beck is right.
This from “inside the beltway” Bill who gave us our candidate McCain last time.
An incredible speech from my perspective....I believe the Republican Party has to own up to it’s own failings. Bush spent like a drunken sailor, he advocated for ‘open’ borders, he was not focused with Iraq and Afghan...We have many Rino’s in the party that need to be purged...Let Beck speak.
Maybe Dr Coburn needs a chalkboard like Beck. Oh to be as brilliant as Glenn Beck.
Ouch. I lost all respect for Beck when he started this "they are all the same" stuff. If one can't discern differences then they are not qualified to deal with politics.
Pfffft.
Want to bet that you can't rebut that Bill.
Well Mr Bennett there is a difference between the two parties one always practices what they preach. The other party preaches but does not always practice what they preach. You always know where a true believer stands but when one says one thing and does another it causes confusion Mr. Bennett. The party that says one thing and does another ought to repent and move forward from there and we might trust them.
Maybe you forgot Bill just why and how the democrats and Obama got where they are.
Keep quoting McCain to define what republicans are Bill...Were you saying something about "dangerous"?
Bill is lumping Conservatives in with ALL folks who have an R next to their name, even going so far as to quote, of all people McCain???! He is still roaming in the wilderness on this.
Yes Bill there are differences between the Republicans and Democrats. However, under GW the government did expand and tried their best to out spend the Democrats. The Tea Party is an honest conservative core value movement. The Republican Party better listen and incorporate this philosophy or they will continue to lose popularity.
It’s not the drama queen part that bothers me about Beck. It’s how quick he is to dismiss the birth certificate issue, without so much as a “let’s look into this.” And the toadying up to Bill O’Reilly doesn’t help.
I’m an ex-drunk. Bennett is full of it.
Why do people bash Beck? Does he HAVE to be perfect? Are you, Mr. Bennett?
And have you noticed that most conservatives, self-styled conservatives, and right-leaning Republicans who bash Beck, will assume the most ridiculous postures to do it, and strain at gnats. You don’t like his metaphors? Wow, that’s really worth putting into print. Makes you sound so nuanced, you could almost pass for a lib.
Petty, Mr. Bennett. You might have been going for discriminating, nuanced, and superior, but you landed petty and snobbish.
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